Recreating classic recipes is my happy place, so you can imagine how happy this Keto Irish Soda Bread makes me. Tender and slightly sweet, and studded with sugar-free dried cranberries, it has all the nostalgia with none of the carbs.
Many people associate soda bread with St. Patrick’s Day. And this low carb version can be served alongside corned beef and cabbage for a traditional meal to celebrate the day. But with its crusty exterior and tender center, it’s delicious any time of year. I love it toasted for breakfast!
☘️ Looking for more St. Paddy’s Day ideas? Try Homemade Keto Irish Cream and Keto Reuben Casserole next!
What readers are saying…
“I make this EVERY year, along with Ina Garten’s version for my non keto/low carb friends, and yours is always the one I get the most compliments on. This year I am making baby soda breads in my giant muffin pan just to try something different for our St Patrick’s Day feast!” — Barbara
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Classic flavor: Soda bread has a distinct flavor from the addition of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and buttermilk. This keto recipes mimics that with some heavy cream and vinegar.
- Wonderful texture: This rustic-style bread has a deliciously crusty exterior with a soft, tender center.
- Easy to make: The bread does take a while to bake, but the active prep time is only 15 minutes!
- Make ahead recipe: You can easily make a loaf and freeze for later.
- Gluten-free and low carb: Made with almond flour, this bread has only 3 grams net carbs per slice. Perfect for a keto diet!
Ingredient Notes
- Heavy cream: Lower carb than buttermilk, this gives the bread incredible tender.
- Apple cider vinegar: To replace the acid content of buttermilk.
- Keto flours: I use almond flour with a little coconut flour gives the bread the best consistency.
- Protein powder: In the absence of gluten, this helps the bread rise properly.
- Sweetener: A touch of brown sugar replacement gives a hint of sweetness.
- Baking soda: You can’t make soda bread without it!
- Sugar-free dried cranberries: Many soda bread recipes call for dried currents, so this is a lower carb option.
- Egg whites: I took my cues from the recipe by Ina Garten. Hers takes some egg to give the bread more structure. I utilized egg whites to make the bread a little lighter as well.
- Baking staples: Butter, salt.
How to Make Keto Irish Soda Bread
- Sour the cream: Combine the cream and vinegar together and set aside.
- Whisk the dry ingredients: Whisk together the almond flour, protein powder, sweetener, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. Grate in the cold butter, then stir in the dried cranberries.
- Add the wet ingredients: Stir in the cream mixture and egg whites until the dough comes together.
- Shape the loaf: Transfer the dough a large baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. With wet hands, form into a high, round loaf. Brush with the melted butter. Use a sharp knife to cut a large X in the top of the loaf.
- Bake the bread: Bake 20 minutes at 325ºF, then turn off the oven and let sit inside for another 30 to 40 minutes.
- Let cool completely: Keto Irish Soda Bread is very fragile when it first comes out of the oven so let it cool completely to firm up.
Tips for Success
Make sure the butter is very cold so you can grate it into the dry ingredients. I love this trick for distributing cold butter throughout dough. I used it in my keto apple scones too, and it gives a more flaky consistency.
Chop the dried cranberries: If you decide to use them, it’s best to chop them up more finely. This gives better distribution throughout the bread, and makes it less likely to tear when you cut into it.
If the dough is very wet, work in some more almond flour or a bit of coconut flour. Some people have had trouble with the center not cooking through, or the bread spreading out too much. This usually means you didn’t have enough flour to offset the wet ingredients.
More Keto Bread Recipes to Try!
Keto Irish Soda Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (119 g) cream
- 1 1/2 tbsp (1.5 tbsp) apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups (224 g) almond flour
- 1/4 cup (27 g) unflavoured whey protein powder, (or egg white protein powder)
- 3 tbsp Swerve Brown
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- 1/4 cup (56.75 g) butter, chilled
- 1/3 cup (40.4 g) sugar-free dried cranberries, chopped (optional)
- 2 large (2) egg whites
- 1 tbsp melted butter , to brush the top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat.
- In a small bowl, combine the cream and vinegar. In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, protein powder, sweetener, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Grate the cold butter into the dry ingredients and stir to distribute. Stir in the dried cranberries, if using.
- Stir in the cream mixture and the egg whites until well combined. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet. With wet hands, form into a high, round loaf. Brush all over with the melted butter.
- Use a sharp knife to cut a large X in the center of the loaf. Place the baking sheet on the second highest rack in the oven and bake 20 minutes, until the outside is turning golden brown.
- Turn off the oven and let the bread sit inside until the top is firm to the touch and not spongy, another 30 to 40 minutes.
- Remove and let cool completely before cutting into slices.
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
Coconut flour would require changing the entire recipe, so I recommend using sunflower seed flour instead. You can use it 1:1 to replace the almond flour.
This Keto Irish Soda Bread does not rely on the sweetener for consistency so you can change the sweetener. Do keep in mind that allulose will make it darken much faster and the outside may almost taste burnt. You can also leave out the sweetener entirely, if you prefer.
This bread is great with anything! I like mine lightly toasted with a little butter. It’s only mildly sweet so it also goes well with soups and stews.
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Will a roasting pan work? Most times I don’t have access to an oven.
Thank you
I am not sure what you mean. This recipe needs to be baked in an oven… no matter what kind of pan it’s in.
My oven has a fan that cools the oven once it’s turned off. How do I cook the Soda Bread recipe? Can I set it on a very low temperature instead of turning the oven off? If so, what temperature would you recommend? Thank you for all your amazing recipes!!
Yes that should work. Try 175 or 200F. The lower the better.
I just made this and non-keto family loves it as much I do! Been searching for an easy go-to bread with nice taste and texture, that might also hold up as sandwich slices. Wondering if this may be it! Has anyone tried it in a metal loaf pan with or without success?
I made the round loaf exactly as directed, only changing Brown Swerve to granular Swerve and omitting cranberries, because I did not have either, and it made some delicious bread!
Just not tall enough to make into sandwiches.
Thank you, Carolyn!
I subscribe to your YouTube and thoroughly enjoy your content.
Not sure how it would fare but it would be a delicious experiment! 😉
Can I bake this in a Dutch oven?
I haven’t tried… I guess you will need to experiment!
I will be trying this, except for adding caraway seeds which I have always had in my Irish soda bread! Thanks for passing this on 😉
I love caraway! I will try that next time too.
This bread is delicious and the texture is so light. I’d like to try it as a savory bread with herbs, by decreasing the Swerve sweetner,but what can I replace it with ? I was thinking replace 2 Tbsp swerve with 2 Tblsp almond flour. Or is there another ingredient I should use to substitute ? Thank you
You don’t need to replace the sweetener with anything, just omit it.
Question on how to make a bread less dense: I made prosciutto bread with almond flour. The taste was good but it was denser than one made with wheat flour. Is there anything you can suggest to make it less dense? Anything I can do or add? Protein powder, collagen powder, etc.
Protein powder and more baking powder.
So to make the bread lighter, add baking powder in addition to the baking soda? Or do you mean just add more baking soda? Thanks for the recipe…plan to make this soon!
Sorry, that should have said more baking soda.
We love this bread! Wondering if anyone has tried doubling the recipe. I’d like to make a larger loaf
Here in Ireland we don’t put fruit or sweetener in “soda bread” as bread is bread. and Fruit and sugar go in “brack” or “barmbrack” – a lovely cake sort of quick bread, but not the everyday bread we have for breakfast. I’m thinking of making this partly with plain bran instead of the sweet stuff (adjusting the moisture) to make it more like the country “wheaten bread” my family eat with plenty of unbeatable Irish butter. 🙂
Sounds great to me!
Is the whey protein required? or is there a good substitute for it?
is cream whipping cream?
Is swerve brown essentially brown sugar?
Please read the blog post as to why protein powder is required. Yes, it’s heavy cream. No, Swerve Brown is not sugar at all…
Made this for St. Patty’s Day – OMG, it was insanely good! I couldn’t find dried sugar-free cranberries without paying a small fortune (and wrong time of year for fresh ones) so I dried out blueberries instead – 5 hours in the oven – and that worked great. Thank you so much for this recipe – this will be my new go-to soda bread recipe every March!
I made this for St. Patrick’s Day for my husband who can no longer have traditional version. He loved it! My question is, can I bake it in a loaf pan, or is that not recommended? Thank you for your wonderful keto blog and recipes!
I made this recipe as stated with the exception of currents in place of cranberries. This is the best keto Irish Soda Bread I have tried so far. Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks!
I wasn’t sure about the flours since I don’t have good luck with recipes that aren’t traditional BUT this recipe was absolutely delicious!!! I’ve got the second loaf in the oven as I write this- easy to follow, taste’s great and keto friendly!!!!
Glad to hear it!
I made this the other night. I couldn’t find fresh cranberries anywhere, so I looked up what I could sub and it said cherries, so I bought the darker ones, I pitted them and made the recipe exactly as you had it, even with the cherries. This was AMAZING! I will DEFINITELY make this again! My family loved it. I am super excited to find cranberries to try it with those. I KNOW it will be even more DELICIOUS! Thanks for this GREAT RECIPE ????
I find no sugar organic dried cranberries at Trader Joe’s. They always have them around the winter holidays, so i stock up, but lately I noticed they are usually in stock! I think because they are a nice chewy substitute for higher card raisins.
I make a cinnamon raisin version of HOP bread, I just chop a few raisins, and or the crans and with my fingers break them up into the flour so they distribute evenly. I’ve been making Irish Soda bread keto style for years, sometimes I dress it up with pecans , cinnamon etc. for a fun “break-fast”treat, and sometimes I omit the sweetener and go savory for garlic bread!
Since I had to work on St. Patrick’s Day I am making my corned beef and cabbage tonight and made the Irish Soda bread to go with it. Mine came out flat as well but it had a great taste.
Carolyn I was so looking forward to eating this since my husband made his own traditional “flour” version of Irish Soda bread and his smelled great, sliced perfectly and tasted right. I followed your directions, adding sf dried cranberries and chopped walnuts too. My only change was that I placed my bread (looking exactly like yours) in a cast iron skillet sprayed lightly with oil and placed it in the oven for the 20 minutes at 325, then turned the oven off and left it in another 40 minutes till no longer spongy and let it cool. Came out looking just like yours too. However, it came apart – was crumbly, and I couldn’t make “slices” but only pulled apart sections of the bread. Maybe the extra butter on top was too much (tho I only spread 1 Tbsp). The taste is good but didn’t taste like Irish Soda Bread to us. I’m sorry mine didn’t seem to work out. 🙁
Carolyn, I am more stars because after placing the bread in the refrigerator, the colder bread sliced just fine and it had a more similar taste to Irish soda bread! I guess I was just too anxious to eat it the day I made it. Thank you again for this keto option!
Correction – I “added” more stars…
Glad that worked!